ORIGINAL: Nemo121
When one commits a coup de main one should take care not to settle for operational goals but rather strategic goals.
3 islands is operationally significant but not strategically decisive.
In any strategic coup de main there is an initial operational phase.... followed by the truly decisive strategic phase.
Strategic Bombing:
If done right strategic bombing can knock Japan out of the war in weeks, not months. At low level during the daytime it is utterly devastating. Far, far too devastating compared to real life actually. I speak here as someone who HR'ed this while playing as Japan and Allies in 1944/45 so I've seen both sides of this coin.
pws,
Recon, literally, about two days before landing. Prior to that it was all SIGINT ( so as to avoid tipping of hands ).
GJ,
Small tip. If you set CAP over your CVs at 40% but let them fly a strike mission the other 60% of fighters will go off escorting the strike. End result only 40% of your fighters are on CAP and your CVs get slaughtered.
So, rotate the CV TFs you let launch ground attacks. So if you have 4 TFs let one launch ground strikes each day so that the other 3/4 will still have all fighters available for CAP. Also, 1 CV TF + the CVEs ( or actually just the CVEs alone really ) should be more than enough to suppress his small ground forces.
So far so good but don't forget, you've just achieved an operational victory so far. The next 4 to 6 days will determine whether you can transition this into a strategic victory.
So True Nemo.
In fact my CVs aren't launching those attacks. Only the CVEs are...and most of my CVEs are equipped only with fighters, in order to provide max cover.
But you're right...all those fighters aren't needed in escort role right now...i will keep a deeper eye on them!
Thanks!
